The Bears' Blog... June 22-2025

All library books borrowed during the 24/25 school year are now due. Please return books as soon as possible. Books not returned by June 25, 2025 will be added to student accounts. Families will be responsible for payment as books will be replaced over the summer.

We are excited for the 2025-26 school year coming up. Our current Chair after doing an amazing job and serving our school for three years has decided it is time to move on to new adventures. So next year we will be looking for a new School Council and Society Chair. The rest of the school council and society positions have been filled (Thank you to those volunteering for those position). Below is a little information about the Chair position and the duties. If you read the below and are interested in becoming our School Council and Society Chair, please attend our September 18th school council meeting. 😊

The School Advisory Council is an avenue for two-way conversations to occur between parents/guardians and the principal. It allows the principal the opportunity to seek advice from parents and guardians on school policies and other matters that directly affect the school community.

The School Fundraising Society provides an opportunity for parents/guardians to facilitate fundraising activities for the school that can enhance the educational programming for our students above the basic level provided by Alberta Education.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! We are looking for a Chair for our School Advisory Council and Fundraising Society. If you can lend a hand, please attend our next meeting on September 18th.

Together, we can do great things at Pine Street to benefit our students. The great events and activities that occur here such as hot lunch, movie nights, and school dances are run by these amazing volunteers. Without school council and the fundraising society support, these activities may not happen.

School Council and Society Chair

It is expected that the chairperson will be a parent of a student currently attending the school. The chair should be someone who can work collaboratively and knows how to organize both programs and people. The chair should actively encourage others to become engaged in meaningful ways.

Typical chairing duties include:

· chair meetings

· coordinate with the principal to establish meeting agendas

· ensure that the operating procedures are current and followed

· be the official spokesperson of the school council and society

· ensure there is regular communication with the whole school community

· stay informed about school board policy that impacts school council

· comply with the School Councils Regulation by providing the school board with an annual report that summarizes the school council’s activities for the previous school year, including a financial statement relating to money, if any, handled by the school council/society

What School Councils are Not

As the name implies, the primary role of the School Advisory Council is Advisory to the Principal. It is important to have an understanding that school councils need to stay within their advisory preview and as such cannot take on any roles that involve School Governance, Employment Issues, School Management or Listening to complaints.

For more information please see the link to School Council Resource Guide, Alberta School Councils’ Association

School fees for the 2024-25 school year are posted on the PowerSchool Parent Portal. All fees are due within 30 days of being posted to student accounts. Throughout the year, fees are often added to cover the costs for various activities, such as field trips, extracurricular activities, and late, damaged or lost textbooks and library books.

To access your fee information, simply log in to the PowerSchool Parent Portal and go to “Student Fees.” There you can view fees and pay them online using a Mastercard or Visa credit or debit card. Make sure to monitor your child’s account on an ongoing basis throughout the school year.

For more information about school fees, waivers and payment deadlines, visit eips.ca/schools/fees. And, if you have questions, think there’s an error or need help creating a PowerSchool Parent Portal account, contact Mrs. Lisa Waselenkoff in the Pine Street School office directly before the summer break.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Pursuant to Board Policy 23: School Fees and Administrative Procedure 505: School and Administrative Fees, EIPS will forward any unpaid 2024-25 fee amounts to a collection agency. To prevent this from happening, remember to pay your fees before August 31, 2025.

We are using TreeRing as our yearbook provider again this year. TreeRing provides an exceptionally different yearbook experience because:

• It offers 2 free customizable pages in every book ordered;
• There are optional upgrades available at additional costs (e.g. hardcover book, additional custom pages);
• It plants one tree for every yearbook ordered, and;
• It is an online company based in the US. (This means parents will order directly from the TreeRing website and the cost will be charged in USD. A major credit card will be required.)

The cost for the 2024-25 Pine Street Yearbook is $29.68 USD. To order you will need to go online to www.treering.com/validate and use our unique school code (1014762959353462). From here, you will follow the prompts to create an account and link to your student(s), which should already be loaded in the system. If you created an account last year, you simply log in and select this year. Please note that when entering your child’s name, use only his/her FIRST and LAST Names (no middle names or initials).

The cut-off date to complete your customized pages and order is July 31, 2025. To ensure your order is submitted prior to this date we encourage you to go online soon to familiarize yourself with the process. We also recommend that you start ‘saving’ the photos you may like to use in your customized pages in a folder or file so they are easy to access when you are ready to create your pages. Should you not wish to take advantage of the customizable pages, a standard copy of the yearbook is also available for purchase, at the same price. Standard copies must still be ordered through the TreeRing website.

Should you have any questions or comments please email us at yearbookpne@gmail.com and indicate ‘yearbook’ in the subject line. We hope you have fun creating your customized yearbooks and enjoy the TreeRing experience.

The Pine Street office will re-open on August 21 at 9 a.m.

On Wednesday, August 27, teachers will phone families to introduce themselves so students will know who their teacher will be. We will be having a meet the teacher night on the first day of school, Thursday, August 28 from 3:30 - 5 p.m. Please click the links below for helpful information about the 2025-26 school year.

Just a reminder that every Wednesday, students will be dismissed at 2:15 p.m.

Student Transportation can be reached at 780-417-8151 or by email at st@eips.ca

• Transportation fees for existing EIPS students can be paid through the Parent Portal and are due June 30, 2025.
• Transportation fees for 2025-26 pre-registered new students must be paid through Student Quick Pay. Instructions for paying online for all families can be found on the Transportation website.
• Quick Pay requires a student ASN (Alberta Student Number). Please email Mrs. Leitch if you need your child's ASN.